1.  Can I grow watermelons on sandy soil?

• Watermelons do best in loamy soil, somewhat-sandy, and well-drained soil. Sandy soil isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as some plants including watermelon. Sandy soil is drains well but because water drain offw too fast, watermelons planted in sandy soil demand extra water and fertilizer.
• Water is essential for every process within a plant, including root development, growth, and photosynthesis. But high surface tension of water molecule can limit its penetration and retention into the soil and result in inefficient water use. In sandy, water flows vertically and not distribute uniformly. Sandy soils hold less water and loss of approximately 70% of the water to run-off, thus sandy soil can easily get dry.
• Soution:
  • HYDRAFLO is a highly effective dual-action (both immediate and long-term) granular wetting agent.
  • Product Advantages:
    • Higher retention of water up to 3 months
    • Reduce surface tension of water and improve water distribution inside sandy soil
    • Encourages free drainage of water-logged soils & rewetting of dry soils
    • Creates an ideal balance of air and water that results in healthier, higher quality plants
    • Encourages deeper, stronger roots
    • Easily applied as a topdress

2.  Will proper fertilization reduce watermelon mortality and root fungus infection during early growth stage?

• Without continued release of key nutrients, watermelon plant will not be able to sustain the vigorous growth of stem and leaves to develop into a plant perfectly poised to photosynthesise the sun’s energy for watermelon fruit formation.
• In general, the relationship between mineral nutrition and disease has been well documented, Potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) are the most directly related nutritional factors affecting plant responses to many microbial pathogens.
• Adequate Calcium and Potassium has been found to improve soil quality, increase cell wall integrity, thicker skin netting, and ensure proper cell signalling of pathways such as calmodulin, thus reducing the incidence and severity of disease.
• Calcium is an essential mineral that has been shown to be important in physiological processes such as plant defence and a deficiency of available Ca can create a more favorable condition for pathogen infection.

*      CHANGE TO SULKA

• Solution:
  • In a trial in on sandy loam soil in Malaysia, a trial has been done on watermelon by comparing top dressing of SULKA to the watermelon crop. It was observed that in early growth stages the SULKA plot plants showed minimum mortality and root fungus infection.
  • Using SULKA provided a prolonged availability of potassium, calcium and magnesium which strengthened the plants. The magnesium improved light absorption and rate of photosynthesis.
  • At harvest, the SULKA plot of the same area produced a 30% yield increase. The fruit were observed to be bigger and better quality with improved shelf life.

3. can I supply watermelon fertilizer by using only water soluble fertilizers without granular or topdress fertilizer?

• The fertigation by water soluble fertilizers is beneficial for growers because it enables to save labor, reducing losses, improving plants nutrient requirements in different stages of crop development, improving the fertilizers efficiency and allowing to maximize the crop yield potential.
• Fertigation has increasingly attracted watermelon growers; however it is necessary to provide precise quantity of nutrients and formulation. Using fertigation, an adequate supply of nutrients and water can be directed towards the plant root zone.
• Among the benefits of watermelon fertigation are following:
  • Nutrients directed to the root zone, reduce wastage
  • Uniform distribution of water and nutrients
  • Nutrients are dissolved and readily available to plants
  • Continuous supply of nutrition, reduce risk of deficiency

• Solution:
  • NISOL Series
    • Complete range, right formulations for every crop growth stage
    • Chloride free, suitable for most crops
    • High quality, NPK nutrients enriched with TE
    • High solubility, due to our selection of raw materials

4. Do watermelons need Boron?

• Boron deficiency is a common deficiency of the micronutrient boron in watermelon plants. It is one of the most widespread micronutrient deficiencies and causes large losses in crop production and crop quality.
• The primary function of Boron is to provide structural integrity to the cell wall in plants. Boron working together with Ca to improve plant and crop strength.
• Boron is an essential micronutrient for the cultivation of watermelon because it is related to physiological processes essential for production, such as the formation of the pollen tube, favoring fertilization and fruit formation. On the other hand, Ca is a nutrient for proper formation of the cell wall.
• Symptoms of deficiency include dying growing tips and bushy, stunted growth; extreme cases may prevent fruit set.
• Soution:
  • NICALBO; granular fertilizer contains 26% of Calcium (oxide) and 0.2% Boron. By topdress to the watermelon plants, it provides sufficient requirement of Calcium and Boron to plant.
  • CALBOR; to get quick effect on Boron nutrition, this foliar application will provide 8.6% Calcium (oxide) with 7% of Boron.